Our People

Angela founded The Larder in 2010 to address rising youth unemployment in West Lothian.  Since then she has led the organisation to support over 3,000 people access training, good quality food and learn to cook.  Since 1984 Angela has been active, in a personal and professional capacity, in communities, campaigning for a fairer and more just society that encourages and provides opportunities for everyone to flourish, regardless of their heritage and personal circumstances.  She has a BA Degree in Community Education and recent qualifications in leadership and strategic development.  She has a proven track record in community development and engagement and was a key driver for the community food sector between 2005 and 2010, working with likeminded organisations from the UK and Europe to collaborate and find ways to increase access to healthy food options whilst developing a social enterprise model.  She has over 20 years experiencing of managing projects and teams in the public and third sector.

Since leaving college in 1988, following a 2-year catering course with West Lothian College, Nicola has worked in Catering and Hospitality. She has loved baking since she was a little girl, baking and decorating cakes as a hobby. Prior to joining The Larder, Nicola was working with Saltire Patisserie as a Head Pastry Chef for 12 years. She is delighted about her new adventure with The Larder and is looking forward to working to support the young people.

Amanda has 25 years’ experience in the field and has recently joined us at The Larder as a Youth Worker. She has worked as a frontline worker in Customer Services for West Lothian Council for the past 20 years. Her experience has largely been around issue-based work, such as LGBT and Sharp Solutions. She has worked in many partnership projects such as Skate Skool with the Vennie in Knightsridge and the museum of poverty with Save the Children, and was part of the team that delivered Scotland’s very first ‘Big Gay Prom’. She loves being a Youth Worker/Coordinator and has worked with many different young people in various communities and is delighted to use her experience to support The Larder.

Starting her journey as a temporary Kitchen Assistant 5 years ago, Christie has excelled in her role and is now The Larder’s Senior Café Assistant. Working throughout all our café locations in West Lothian, Christie is now a Barista Trainer and supports our students with their front of house and barista skills. During her time at The Larder Christie has completed multiple personal development courses, recently completing her Modern Apprenticeship in Hospitality Supervision and Leadership.

With over 35 years of experience in the training sector, Angela brings a wealth of knowledge with her to the role of Information Management Officer. Angela works closely with the training team and Business Manager and provides administrative support to the organisation. She thoroughly enjoys following the student's journey from signing them up to start on a course to issuing out their end qualifications. In her spare time, Angie enjoys walking and trying out yoga, spending time with family and her daughter Chloe.

After joining the team in 2018, Esther successfully completed her SCQF Level 8 Assessors qualification.  Esther now works within our training academy and externally in schools working directly with our students in a kitchen environment. Esther is passionate about cooking and helping young people better themselves through training and independent living skills. She enjoys to experiment with Mexican cuisine at home which the staff thoroughly enjoy sampling!

After successful completion of his Community Jobs Scotland placement, Ewan secured his position as our Café/Kitchen Assistant at The Larder. 3 years into his journey Ewan is a keen Barista and can be seen working in our community cafes, supporting our chefs in the kitchen and events and assisting with our Catalyst Kitchen Project. Ewan is a keen football supporter, taking trips to the stadium to watch his favourite team and has a keen interest in cooking.

With over 8 years’ experience of working in the hospitality industry, Emma decided to change roles and joined The Larder in 2017 through the Community Jobs Scotland programme as our Social Media & Administrative Assistant.  Emma left school with few qualifications, has care experience and was a young Mum.  After completion of the programme, she studied and achieved her HND in Business Administration and has worked up the hierarchy to this current role within The Larder. Emma shares The Larder ethos and believes that everyone deserves an opportunity in life to better themselves and is a true testament to this.  She strives for quality and compassion every day and is an inspiration to her peers, young employees and our trainees.

Michelle is an Organisational Development professional. Starting her career in Life Science following her BSc, Michelle’s developed an expertise in maximising staff performance which supported her career development to director level over 15 years in the sector.  For the last 16 years Michelle’s focus has been supporting clients across a range of sectors to get the best out of their staff, working across the globe.  Michelle is a certified coach; is fully qualified to deliver a range of Psychometric tools and has an MBA (Open).  Michelle has worked as a volunteer or Board member on various Charities over the last 27 years with a focus on supporting young people who due to a range of circumstances are disadvantaged, to have the same opportunities as every young person.  Michelle was the Chair of WHALE Arts for 5 years, is the current Co-Chair of Reuse & Thrive a Board member at YES! Tanzania and the Chair of The Larder.

Alan is the Chief Finance Officer at Rapport with extensive experience driving results in data and technology businesses. A qualified Accountant, he spent time at Ernst & Young in London before spending 16 years in leadership roles at Wood Mackenzie, including as VP of Corporate Development and as Managing Director of the Petroleum Edge Joint Venture Company. While there, he led mergers and acquisitions, resulting in three successful closed deals, and post-merger integrations with international teams. Alan also volunteers as a board member, business mentor, and advisor for multiple Scottish enterprises.

Joyce has been with The Larder since 2013. First as a volunteer, and shortly after joined the board as a director. She has watched and participated in the growth of the Larder as it has become more successful and a shining light in West Lothian. At the time she was volunteering with the Princes Trust as a business mentor for people starting up their own businesses and was looking to do more charity work around mentoring. She joined The Larder as a chance to help young people gain confidence and get a foot onto the employment ladder. She worked for many years for The Royal Bank of Scotland doing a variety of jobs, building up skills in communication, collaboration, stakeholder engagement and administrative skills.  Since leaving RBS in 2014, she has spent a few years as self-employed within the finance industry, but is currently working on supporting projects for Public Health Scotland.

Rob is a former financial journalist and experienced corporate communications director.  After 15 years at The Times in London, latterly as business editor, he returned to Scotland as business editor of The Scotsman and later as business editor Scotland for The Sunday Times.  In a major career shift in 2000, Rob became communications chief for Stagecoach Group, and subsequently head of communications at Scottish & Newcastle. He then became director of a London financial public relations firm, expanding its business into Scotland. As a former financial journalist and board level advisor to a wide range of companies, Rob is experienced in the practicalities of investor and media relations, and of finance and corporate governance. Now semi-retired, Rob sees The Larder as one of the best social enterprises in the country, and is keen to lend his experience to the board.

Gillian has over 20 years’ experience in business, from family business, to financial services, high street retail and ecommerce. She has run her own online fresh food delivery business, worked in the wine and whisky trade and has a Masters in Gastronomy.  She is a Fellow of the Institute of Digital and Direct Marketing.

Joanne started her career in Finance as a Management Accountant, working for large technology companies. A side-step in to finance projects developed an interest in delivering change, and specifically process improvements.  Joanne qualified as a Six Sigma Black Belt and a PRINCE2 Practitioner and has 18 years’ experience delivering a variety of projects ranging from small scale improvements to international organisational changes. Joanne broadened her experience across Media and Financial Services sectors and further developed her skills to include Agile delivery.  In several roles, Joanne has set up training forums to share knowledge and coach. Joanne became involved in The Larder in 2017, inspired by the vision and execution in creating a supportive environment for young people to develop, and is proud to serve on the Board.